Crowfeather's Trial/Prologue
Chapter description :In a flashback, Crowfeather finds himself as Crowpaw, pressed back into a crevice as Sharptooth looms over him. He reflects that he can't believe that he is going to die like this, and that he wanted to be part of the future of the Clans. His gaze finds Feathertail, crouched beside her brother Stormfur on a ledge. She says that she can hear the voices clearly now, to the confusion of all the cats who hear her, and she meows that this is for her to do. Crowpaw watches as she hurls herself at one of the pointed stones that hangs down from the roof. Feathertail clings at the rock. With a dull grinding sound, the stone breaks and falls. Sharptooth's snarl turns into a scream of pain as the spike thrusts into his neck. Feathertail falls from the spike and hits the cave floor beside him. Crowpaw stumbles to Stormfur and Feathertail, and he struggles to keep his voice steady as he asks if the she-cat is okay. With a cracking voice, Stormfur says she's going to be fine, she has a prophecy to fulfill, but Crowpaw wonders if she just fulfilled the prophecy of the silver cat. :He touches his nose to Feathertail's shoulder, thinking of the future he had dreamed of, for them to somehow be together even though they're from different Clans. He begs for her to wake up, and her eyes open, warmly looking at Crowpaw and Stormfur. She tells her brother that he will need to return home without her and to save the Clans. Feathertail brings her attention back to Crowpaw and he thinks of how he doesn't deserve her and never did. She whispers that she saved him once, don't make her save him again. He begs her to not leave him, and her voice is faint as she promises she will always be with him. After she dies, he flings back his head with a grief-stricken wail. Darkness begins to swirl around him and he wonders how he can live with her loss. He hears Stoneteller say that The Tribe of Endless Hunting spoke truly and a silver cat saved them all. Crowpaw thinks how that is true, but no one saved her, and the Clans would never be the same now. The word never echoes around him, and he thinks how they will never be mates, never have kits, and he will never see her again. :Crowfeather wakes from the dream beside Leafpool, who is sleeping. He doesn't understand how the ThunderClan medicine cat found her way to his heart, after all the moons of pain from the loss of Feathertail. He thinks how they could have had a future together, but the night before, Midnight told them that badgers were going to attack the Clans and cats would die. Despite not mentioning anything of returning, Crowfeather knows what she will say when she wakes up. He thinks how Leafpool's dedication and loyalty to her Clan was part of why he loved her. He sighs that he would have taken care of her until his last breath, and she wakes, distraught, meowing that they need to go back. Sadness rises in Crowfeather, but he agrees that they must help their Clans. :As they trek home, Crowfeather realizes he is losing another mate, Leafpool was needed in ThunderClan, which left Crowfeather the only option of returning to WindClan. He thinks about how he will feel like a stranger in the place he once belonged to, and bitterly wonders if they would even take him back. The two cats approach the stepping stones of the border stream between ThunderClan and WindClan, and Leafpool mews she will never forget their time together, her expression a mixture of grief and determination. They stand together and Crowfeather thinks how he'll miss her, and wishes she could have been as loyal to him as she was to her Clan. He accompanies her on her trek back to ThunderClan's camp, unwilling to leave her to go back alone with hostile badgers in the forest. He knows he will never be with her this way again, and they will only cross paths on occasion with Clan business, remaining at a distance, as though they had never loved one another. He thinks how if he survives the badgers, he's finished with love because it only ends with pain and loss, and he vows that from then on he will only worry about his duty to WindClan. Characters Major }} Minor *Feathertail *Stormfur *Stoneteller *Brook *Leafpool }} Mentioned }} Notes and references Category:Crowfeather's Trial Category:Chapter subpages Category:Super Edition arc